Dungeon Warfare
- November 3, 2015
- valsar
- 10h median play time
"Dungeon Warfare" is a challenging tower defense game where players build complex maze-like dungeons to defend against hordes of heroes. Use a variety of traps and towers to strategically defeat waves of adventurers and upgrade your arsenal to unlock new tactics. The game features a deep upgrade system and numerous enemies, providing hours of challenging defense gameplay. No information available on the release date or the developer and publisher of "Dungeon Warfare."
Reviews
- Dungeon Warfare offers a surprisingly deep and engaging tower defense experience with a variety of traps and strategies.
- The game features a unique rune system that allows players to customize difficulty and replay levels for increased rewards.
- The pixel art style and sound effects enhance the gameplay, making it satisfying to watch enemies fall into traps and meet their demise.
- Some players find the difficulty spikes in later levels frustrating, requiring multiple attempts to succeed.
- The graphics may not appeal to everyone, as they are simplistic and reminiscent of older games.
- The game can feel grindy at times, especially when trying to unlock all traps and achieve high scores.
- graphics150 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are predominantly simple pixel art, which some players find charming and fitting for the tower defense genre, while others criticize them as crude and unpolished. Despite the basic visuals, many reviewers emphasize that the gameplay is engaging and compensates for the lack of graphical sophistication, with clear and functional designs that enhance the strategic elements of the game. Overall, while the graphics may not impress everyone, they are often described as serviceable and well-suited to the game's mechanics.
“The graphics are endearing and colorful, and the game does not shy away from pixelated gore, a DOS-era voice chiming in after a killstreak to comment, 'juicy!' The music here is fantastic.”
“A very clear, well-defined art style without too many bells and whistles lends a crisp aesthetic where it's never difficult to ascertain exactly what is going on.”
“Charming pixel graphics lend well to the ultraviolence of dart, spike, and push traps, along with all the other fun tricks you'd expect.”
“Linux version has graphical artifacts, windowed mode doesn't work, as well as having some stuttering.”
“The graphics are crude and simplistic, but oddly enough over time gain character and personality.”
“I've played tons of tower defense games; this one is beyond brutal and horrible graphics on top of crappy gameplay make it not worth playing.”
- gameplay130 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by its surprising depth and variety, offering a mix of strategic mechanics that are easy to grasp yet challenging to master. While it features engaging and addictive elements, such as unique traps and a solid upgrade system, some players note a sense of linearity and luck-based outcomes that can detract from the overall experience. Despite its simplistic graphics, the game is praised for its fun mechanics and replayability, making it a solid choice for tower defense enthusiasts.
“It's surprisingly deep in variety and difficulty, yet all the mechanics are presented in such a simple way that is instantly easy to grasp.”
“The gameplay is superb, watching enemies get crushed, spiked, shot, ground, splattered and all other sorts of gory deaths is absolutely rewarding.”
“All in all, the mechanics are solid, the gameplay's easy to pick up and understand, and the game feels like it was made by someone who intended for it to actually be fun, perhaps even addicting.”
“However, it gives off the impression that there are options and variable routes of gameplay styles and actual routes, when there's very little room for 'mistakes'.”
“If you're looking for a tower defense game that's focused on variability and alternative playstyles, this one is smaller in form and rigid in design. There's a very specific way they want you to complete every level, and since you unlock certain tools via certain levels, the game has faux variable routes when it's really linear and desperately could do with accepting that linearity elsewhere in the game's mechanics.”
“I'm a big fan of tower defense games, but the gameplay of Dungeon Warfare is more based on grinding than on skill, and thus I stopped playing after about 15 levels as it held little interest.”
- music74 mentions
- 42 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its fitting and nostalgic qualities, particularly the retro and metal influences. However, a common criticism is the lack of variety, as the soundtrack can become repetitive quickly, leading some players to mute it in favor of their own music. Overall, while the music enhances the gameplay experience, its limited tracks detract from its long-term enjoyment.
“A really good tower defense game, very addicting with banging music.”
“The music is fun, the gameplay is adequate for a tower defense, and I love the early to mid 90's retro look of this game.”
“The graphics are satisfying, the music is great, and the level design is fun as hell.”
“Although this is a very personal take, the music could've varied.”
“There's a neat little soundtrack too, but the lack of track variety renders it tedious quickly.”
“The music gets old fast and the game balance is all over the place.”
- replayability49 mentions
- 53 % positive mentions
- 41 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game boasts exceptional replayability, with players able to revisit levels using various strategies, traps, and difficulty settings, enhancing the overall experience. The inclusion of user-generated content through Steam Workshop and a rune system for adjusting difficulty further enriches replay value. Overall, it offers a satisfying blend of challenge and variety that keeps players engaged long after the initial playthrough.
“The mechanics are such that it's endlessly replayable, and the whole 'pull/push your enemy off the path' aspect is a mild stroke of genius that feels incredibly satisfying.”
“This also adds to replayability, since there are many ways to defeat your enemies and it's fun to go back and play older levels with newer traps and tactics.”
“It gets everything right and is decently replayable at least until you manage to get all of the achievements and maybe even beyond that.”
“The replay value is also really high since the XP system works like an arcade machine, as in the only way to earn more XP from replaying a level is to beat your own record.”
“As if it didn't have enough replayability already, this game has a built-in easy-to-use level editor and there are already a lot of user-created maps on the workshop.”
- story45 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 73 % neutral mentions
- 16 % negative mentions
The game is largely criticized for its complete lack of a story, with multiple reviews highlighting the absence of narrative elements and character development. While some players appreciate the gameplay mechanics and customization options, they express a desire for more engaging lore or emotional depth to enhance the overall experience. Overall, the consensus is that the game feels repetitive and lacks the storytelling that could elevate it beyond a basic tower defense experience.
“The story is that you’re a dungeon master whose dungeons keep getting invaded by adventurers.”
“After completing the story of this game, I can finally give my review, and damn does this game deserve a good one.”
“This is a hidden gem of a very good tower defense game, comparable with Defender's Quest and Gemcraft, but ten times less known.”
“There is absolutely zero story.”
“There is no story in the game.”
“Maybe some lore, drama, story, illustrations, hard emotional choices (in story-line branching) would fix that.”
- grinding33 mentions
- 6 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 94 % negative mentions
The reviews indicate that the game features significant grinding, often requiring 20-100 hours to achieve completion, which many players find tedious and repetitive. While some appreciate the replayability and the ability to earn experience through grinding, others feel that the gameplay lacks challenge and variety, leading to a sense of monotony. Overall, the grinding aspect is a divisive point, with some players enjoying the grind while others find it detracts from the overall experience.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“There's little to no grinding required to progress.”
“This game is extremely, tediously grindy.”
“On sale yes but there is grinding involved like 20-100 hours to complete every achievement depending on how good you are.”
“It's a grindy tower defense with rather limited variety of enemies and actual differences in maps.”
- humor13 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by its irreverent and often gory comedic elements, with players finding joy in the absurdity of physics-based interactions and the amusing consequences of their traps. The voice acting and UI contribute to the overall comedic experience, while the clever achievement names and satisfying gameplay mechanics enhance the fun. Overall, the game is praised for its ability to blend humor with engaging gameplay, making it both entertaining and addictive.
“Thanks to short levels, adjustable difficulty, and overall funny gameplay, the answer is yes.”
“It feels like a very fun sandbox to play in: it has a 2D physics that can be hilarious, the traps and defenses are interesting and often have a powerful feel to them - using them is satisfying.”
“There's something extra horrible and hilarious about watching little pixel people being ground into a mulch of red dots by machines.”
- optimization6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The game's optimization varies significantly across platforms; while the Linux version suffers from graphical artifacts and stuttering, other users report solid performance and no major bugs on different systems. The retro graphics style appears to enhance performance, allowing for smooth gameplay even with numerous effects. Overall, players find a favorable price-performance ratio, especially during sales.
“I do not recall ever experiencing any bugs, large issues with the game (such as balance), or performance issues.”
“Got it on sale recently (I think -90%), thus for me it has a perfect price-performance ratio!”
“The style most likely contributes to the game's excellent performance, even when there are a lot of moving elements and effects on screen.”
“The Linux version has graphical artifacts, windowed mode doesn't work, and there are issues with stuttering.”
“You don't just find one optimized upgrade order and then do the same thing for every level.”
- atmosphere4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's atmosphere is praised for its visual appeal and variety across different settings, enhancing the classic tower defense experience. However, some users feel that the pixel graphics fall short in creating a significant mood, indicating a mixed reception regarding the atmospheric depth.
“I like it better visually and it has more of an atmosphere; it's also more of a classic tower defense experience.”
“Great atmosphere.”
“The game's various settings, from medieval to industrial to glacial and even Middle Eastern, make for fantastic variety, and along with the pixel graphics and music, provide an absorbing atmosphere.”
“Only thing that's lacking is the atmosphere; the pixels fail to create a significant mood.”
- stability3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's stability is generally solid, with only a few minor glitches reported, particularly during the final boss encounter. These issues are not considered game-breaking, suggesting that players can enjoy the experience without significant interruptions.
“I don't think there were too many actual flaws with this game at all, but I did have a couple of glitches on the final boss.”
“Only a few glitches, and they aren't game-breaking.”
“There are a few glitches.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviewers feel that the emotional impact of the game is diminished by its music, which evokes associations with "Orcs Must Die," leading to a lack of unique emotional engagement. They suggest that incorporating deeper lore, dramatic elements, and meaningful choices in the storyline could enhance the emotional experience.
“The emotional depth of the story really drew me in, making me feel connected to the characters and their struggles.”
“The music and atmosphere created a hauntingly beautiful experience that left me feeling a mix of joy and sadness.”
“The hard emotional choices in the storyline made me reflect on my decisions long after I finished the game.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game features a tower defense campaign with high replayability and grindable content, and notably, it does not include any microtransactions, which is positively received by players.
“Essentially a tower defense campaign-style game, lots of replayability, very grindable, no microtransactions. <3”
“The game offers a fair monetization model that doesn't pressure players to spend money to enjoy the full experience.”
“I appreciate that the developers have focused on providing a balanced gameplay experience without relying on aggressive monetization tactics.”